United Launch Alliance has been working on Vulcan since 2014. In the time since then, there have been quite a few delays with the maiden flight originally scheduled to happen in 2019. These delays had to do with ULA’s progress, Blue Origin and the BE-4, and even Astrobotic who is providing the primary payload on this initial launch.
One of the most recent delays came late last year when Astrobotic requested more time in order to prepare their CLPS Moon lander. This changed the launch date from quarter 4 of 2022 to the first quarter of 2023. However, now in January, it looks like important mission milestones and final preparation that were expected to have happened by now have not. Combine this with fewer updates from the company and it looks like some more delays may be announced soon.
This being said, Astrobotic seems to now be making good progress on the Peregrine lunar lander. Enough progress that the payload should be ready and delivered in the coming months. Here I will go more in-depth into some of the possible delays ULA and Vulcan are facing, the history of attempting to launch this rocket, what to expect in the future, and more.
Possible Vulcan Delays
Not long ago in October 2022, ULA released an update on Vulcan’s progress and some of its final upcoming milestones in preparation for launch. Here ULA was proceeding to a first flight of Vulcan 1st quarter 2023 to align with a request from its payload customer Astrobotic, who will be flying its Peregrine lunar lander to the Moon for NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. At the time of this update, the first Vulcan launch vehicle was nearing completion in ULA’s factory in Decatur, Alabama, and was awaiting installation of its BE-4 engines.
In terms of specific dates, ULA expected to ship the completed vehicle to the launch site in November. In addition, they pointed out that once at the Cape, Vulcan will undergo a final series of tests to verify its readiness for flight consisting of multiple tanking tests and a wet dress rehearsal, culminating in flight readiness firing in December, which will be the final step prior to launch. Following the successful final testing, Astrobotic and the other payloads will be installed on the launch vehicle. Now it’s January of 2023, and Vulcan has still not been delivered to the Cape. Yesterday ULA CEO Tory Bruno was asked, “Hello @torybruno and Happy New Year! Has the Vulcan core been sent to Cape Canaveral? And when is the Vulcan flight currently scheduled?” Tory responded only hours ago saying “Soon. Yes” This confirms that this process is a couple months behind schedule at this point.
Less than a month after this update, both Blue Origin BE-4 engines had not only been delivered but were installed on Vulcan, one of the final steps necessary prior to launch. This brings up the question of what is causing these slight delays. As far as the payload which originally shifted the launch to 2023, Astrobortic recently reported that they were ahead of schedule and completing some final testing.
This first commercial mission is part of ULA’s requirement to meet the U.S. Space Force certification of its new launch vehicle. Mark Peller, vice president of Major Development, stated “We are committed to ensuring we fly the first certification mission and stay on schedule to achieve U.S. Space Force certification of Vulcan in advance of our first national security space mission in 4th quarter 2023.” With so many different important missions riding on this launch vehicle, more delays could push back a lot of exciting projects. Later this year for example Dream Chaser Tenacity is set to lift off for the first time on top of Vulcan. This launch is expected to be the second ever launch of Vulcan and happen not long from now in the third quarter of this year. As of right now, all we can do is wait and see what progress is made and keep an eye on Vulcan and its schedule.
Vulcan’s Launch Attempt History
Now that we know more about some of the possible delays Vulcan is facing, we can take a closer look at this rocket’s history and development. Starting back in early 2014, geopolitical and US political considerations led to an effort by ULA to consider the possible replacement of the Russian-supplied RD-180 engine used on the first stage booster of the Atlas V. In September 2014, ULA announced that it had entered into a partnership with Blue Origin to develop the BE-4 liquid oxygen (LOX) and liquid methane engine to replace the RD-180 on a new first stage booster. The engine was already in its third year of development by Blue Origin, and ULA said it expected the new stage and engine to start flying no earlier than 2019. Two of the 2,400-kilonewton (550,000 lbf)-thrust BE-4 engines were to be used on a new launch vehicle booster.
In 2015, it was announced BE-4 rocket engine production would be expanded to increase production capacity for testing. The following January, ULA was designing two versions of the Vulcan first stage; the BE-4 version has a 5.4 m (18 ft) diameter to support the use of less-dense methane fuel. In late 2017, the upper stage was changed to the larger and heavier Centaur V, and the launch vehicle was renamed Vulcan Centaur. The single-core Vulcan Centaur will be capable of lifting “30% more” than a Delta IV Heavy, meeting the NSSL requirements. Moving on to 2018, the USAF released an NSSL launch service agreement with new requirements, delaying Vulcan’s initial launch to April 2021, after an earlier postponement to 2020. In June 2021, Astrobotic reported that they needed more time to prepare Peregrine, delaying the first flight of Vulcan to 2022, and later to 2023. This brings us to today as the company and customer try to finish final preparations for this launch.
In terms of actual testing, on October 21st, The United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan Centaur program successfully completed the initial round of pathfinder activities at Cape Canaveral by performing a countdown test to rehearse all aspects of launch day operations. The flight-configuration Vulcan core stage, named the Pathfinder Tanking Test (PTT) booster, was transported 2.7 miles (4.3 km) from the Spaceflight Processing Operations Center (SPOC) to Space Launch Complex (SLC)-41 aboard the Vulcan Launch Platform (VLP) on Monday, Oct. 4.
The rocket systems were powered up and tested while a separate team of technicians at SLC-41 configured the pad for cryogenic fueling operations. At T-minus 3 hours, the countdown entered a planned hold to clear the launch complex and poll launch controllers to verify readiness to proceed into fueling. ULA Launch Director Lou Mangieri authorized the “go” to continue the test. Once the clocks resumed ticking, thermal conditioning of the liquid oxygen system, called chilldown, began at the pad. That was followed a few minutes later by the liquefied natural gas (LNG) propellant system chilldown. Evaluating the thermal characteristics and amount of time needed for chilling were key objectives of this day-of-launch rehearsal. LNG began flowing into the Vulcan PTT stage first, once chilldown parameters were satisfied. Liquid oxygen chilldown of the internal feedline within the stage followed the ground infrastructure chill, and then the tank filling commenced. Overall, the test was a success and provided a lot of valuable information for the company.
Vulcan is a very big deal for ULA considering this rocket is expected to become the company’s new workhorse. Vulcan Centaur is a two-stage-to-orbit, heavy-lift launch vehicle with a payload capacity to LEO ranging from 10,800 kilograms to 27,200 kilograms, depending on the number of solid rocket boosters. In addition to the two primary BE-4 engines, Vulcan integrates up to six Northrop Grumman Graphite Epoxy Motor (GEM) 63XL Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs). They are constructed out of a graphite-epoxy composite with the throttle profile designed into the propellant grain. GEM solids supported the Delta II and Delta IV rockets, and the GEM 63 variant will fly on ULA’s Atlas V rocket prior to the first Vulcan launch.
For upper stage propulsion, Vulcan will rely on two RL10C engines. Logging an impressive record of nearly 400 successful flights and nearly 700 firings in space, RL10 engines, manufactured by Aerojet Rocketdyne, harness the power of high-energy liquid hydrogen. The RL10 boasts a precision control system and restart capability to accurately place payloads into orbit. Vulcan adapts and evolves technologies that were developed for the Atlas V and Delta IV rockets of the USAF’s EELV program. The first-stage propellant tanks have the same diameter as the Delta IV Common Booster Core but will contain liquid methane and liquid oxygen propellants rather than the Delta IV’s liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. We are seeing this new propellant mixture on a lot of modern rockets including Relativity’s Terran 1, SpaceX’s Starship, and Blue Origin’s New Glenn. Currently, ULA is even working to reuse the two first stage BE-4 engines using the SMART technology. ULA estimated this technology would reduce the cost of the first stage propulsion by 90%, and 65% of the total first-stage cost. By 2020, ULA had not announced firm plans to fund, build and test this engine-reuse concept, though in late 2019 they stated they were “still planning to eventually reuse Vulcan’s first-stage engines”. Something that will not be attempted on Vulcan’s maiden flight but we could expect to see in the future.
Conclusion
United Launch Alliance is trying to launch Vulcan for the first time. Based on past updates from the company it looks like the launch vehicle might be facing some more delays. Vulcan was scheduled to be delivered in November and complete a flight readiness firing last month in December but we haven’t heard anything yet. We will have to wait and see how it progresses and the impact it has on the space industry.